Everyone’s on Instagram. And if you’re not on it, you at least know of it. Instagram has worked its way into becoming part of every business’ marketing plan and it’s almost a given to create a page for your new brand.
But over the years, Instagram has kept changing its methods, motivations and priorities that it’s sometimes hard to keep up. I don’t like to look at algorithm and data, it doesn’t excite me. And when I reach the point where it becomes crucial, I’d probably hire someone to look at it for me.
Nevertheless, I’ve realised over the years that while back-end it can change and evolve, the core of being successful on IG sort of remains the same. I’m not saying I’m “successful”, but I’ve found these things to be of most importance.
Know What Your Audience Wants
People aren’t going to like your page if your content doesn’t resonate with them, add value to their lives or make them feel good.
Of course, this requires testing, exploring, conversing and risking. It’s hard to take, but you’re going to have some posts that do much worse than others. Putting other considerations aside (timing, frequency, etc) the content you’re posting, especially if you’re at the beginning of your brand’s journey, should be different because you should be trying to see what works, what doesn’t and what works the best. We all know how demoralising it is to see “3 likes” on your post (and we all also feel like punching people when they tell us “numbers don’t matter” because HEY THEY DO TO ME!) but try to look at this way: at least now you know these kinds of posts won’t work.
Another way to know what your audience wants, is to, well, ask them. Get to know your followers, check them out, talk to them, reply to comments they leave you. Take time to turn them from just a number to an actual follower.
Other Similar Accounts Are Not Competitors
It’s understandable to feel almost threatened by similar accounts who are doing way better. But instead of thinking they’re out to steal your potential followers, remember this: a persan can follow more than 1 page. If anything, pages who have existed before you and are doing well, are perfect places to start learning from. See the kind of posts that get the most likes. See what their followers talk about in their comment section. In fact, you can even tap on their followers to start making your own friends!
Other similar accounts are also a great platform to get collaborations rolling. Reach out, leave them a message and be open enough to see where it takes you.
It Takes Time
I know, you look at your number of followers everyday and wonder why it isn’t growing at the same rate as others. It will rise, it just takes time and effort. Some other accounts grow faster because maybe they’ve already got a following elsewhere and this is their secondary platform. Or maybe they’ve already established themselves as a trustworthy expert in the field, so people are more willing to follow whatever they do. But if you’re starting out from Z E R O like I did, then trust the process – the followers will come.
It’s quite disheartening and I get it because I struggle with that too. I used to think I was doing something wrong, and I’d take a few days off from posting because I get all “what’s the point” but I’ve learnt to just keep at it and stay consistent.